


Hedgehog Theory

by apeppermint



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Multiple Crossovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 04:55:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17338979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apeppermint/pseuds/apeppermint
Summary: Sonic is Sonic, no matter where or when: a prince, a Freedom Fighter, a son, a vigilante.But when the universes are all smashed together, Sonic must decide who he truly is.





	Hedgehog Theory

**Author's Note:**

> Oh wow a big sonic crossover fic how original woooow
> 
> Yeah, I know it's been done. I know. Look, the idea of this's been on me since 2003. I just want it done already.
> 
> And, 'cause you'll notice (if you notice) this fic's inspired, in part, by the Genesis Wave attempted at the end of the Archie comic run. It was never very well executed, no matter how you feel about it, and I thought that was such a shame because I liked aspects of that re-introduction (I know, I'm the only person). This fic is therefore, in spirit, an expansion of the initial idea. 
> 
> So, here you go. Literally Sonic and Everybody. Well, almost.

"Curse that hedgehog." Dr. Eggman, hunched over the charred chassis of the Egg Mobile, slammed his fist against the bent metal and regretted it immediately. He let out a wail and leapt back, cradling his fist in his other palm, and stamping his feet against the floor. The hangar of the Egg Carrier Mark IV was perhaps the only section of the ship still in impeccable shape. With the hangar open to the world, gave Eggman a view of Metropolis's dark sky, the rank smell of burning petroleum, and the Carrier literally melting. He was alone per request, having sent off Orbot and Cubot in a rage. Where they'd gone, he hardly cared to know. They were failures anyway. A waste of his precious skill and materials. 

"That damn bolts-for-brains—that robot is supposed to be an exact replica! Why does it fail me every time?" Eggman kneaded his knuckles and glared at the remains of the Egg Mobile, which was leaking reserve petroleum at his feet. Somehow, he'd been cursed—cursed with polymathic brilliance but utterly inept creations. What was he doing wrong? Every last one of his plans had the tell-tale mark of genius; why was it, every time he made progress, that meddling hedgehog found a way to wreck his plans?

"We're switching to electric," he said as he felt the oil leak into the tips of his shoes. "Never let anyone say the Eggman Empire isn't with the times."

This was a subconscious cue for a witty sting that never came. Orbot was not within the premises. Though there was no one to witness it, the slip riled him up all the same, and screaming, "Orbot, you worthless teapot, get down here this instant! You, too, whatever you're called!" Eggman burst out into the open air, only to trip unceremoniously over a dislodged piece of the Egg Carrier's wing. He went sailing onto his face, nose deep into torn-up concrete. As the dust settled, he went limp where he lay. 

He had to THINK of something. Another scheme, another way to make Eggmanland a reality. Time and time again, the world had made a mockery of him. Sonic hadn't even blinked, faced with a newly upgraded Metal Sonic. He had ALMOST succeeded in making it a reality, he'd had the planet under his thumb just a year ago, how could he be back to—to a joke so quickly? He needed to be taken seriously, he needed—

He felt the pressure of something stab into the pavement at his cheek. He whipped his head around and was nearly blinded by the glow of a long, jaded object. He shot up, hissing at the cuts from his fall, and scrambled backwards.

A green shard was impaled in the pavement, gleaming of its own will. Eggman removed his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and then put them back on. It was still there. For a moment, the good doctor stared agape, but quickly recovered, returning to hover over with malicious glee. 

"A shard of the Master Emerald." He chuckled and rubbed his hands together. "But how did you end up here, you wonderful beauty?" 

As far as he knew, his and Sonic's little scuffle hadn't occurred anywhere near the current coordinates of Angel Island. So, what did that mean...? All the same, it was his for the taking. With that thought, Eggman reached for the shard. It was a that moment a shadow fell over him.

"Hmm?" Eggman, distracted, pulled away and turned around.

"Sonic—?" he cried, startled by the fuzzy profile of a golden Sonic in the sky above, posed for a strike. There was a strange, reddish tint surrounding him—the hedgehog's gaze, determinedly forward, wandered in Eggman's direction, but he didn't seem to see him. 

Eggman pressed a button beneath one of his shirt cuffs. Behind him, one of the Egg Carrier's doors burst open and out shot Orbot and Cubot, panicking loudly.

"Yes sir, yes sir!" shouted Cubot, taking the most circuitous route possible in reaching its creator, and ultimately slamming into a large chunk of debris for its effort. Orbot, shaking its head, hauled Cubot up and was about to draw closer, when a sound like thunder rang out above.

With it, the mirage vanished, and the sky exploded with a bright, white-hot light.

\---

"Sonic, you can do it!"

"Beat that Egghead!"

"You've got something coming, Robuttnik!"

"Go get 'em, bro!"

The combined emeralds' power was a like a hum in his veins. The voices of his –*vrzzt*—filled his ears. He couldn't see them, they had to be behind him, but he didn't have time to turn around. The doctor's monstrous creation was rearing its arm, ready to strike a fatal blow. He tensed up, ready to return blow for blow.

But then there was a cracking sound, loud enough to overwhelm the cheers. He looked just in time to watch a great, glowing gem crumble to pieces and his vision go awash with white—

\---

When Sonic opened his eyes, it was to a white-gray sky. A seagull circled above, caught in a sudden gust which ruffled his fur. The beach looked stark, and the waves far more tumultuous than they had earlier that morning, when he'd stretched out on the hammock. The air smelled of salt water and oncoming rain. Sonic massaged his eyes and sat up, the sharp details of the dream (dreams?) beginning to fade. 

He couldn't even begin to imagine why he'd had it. He'd fought Eggman so many times, to be honest, the guy had stopped making appearances. It was too blasé even to engage him in sleep. Usually, if he had any at all, it was weird, unrelated stuff where Tails or Amy or even Knux might show up. If it was an especially bad night, old friends might make themselves known, and Sonic would have to bid them farewell one more time.

A nightmare or two about a cell was hardly welcome, either.

"Robuttnik...?" Sonic mused, sliding off the side of the hammock, sand kicking up around him. "Gotta use that one more often."

Sonic shrugged, but despite his intentions, the strange feeling he had did not dissipate. 

"Sonic!" 

Along the cold and lonely horizon, Sonic could at first only spy a smattering of palm trees and homes, but the bright figure of Tails soon appeared, waving, his tails a blur. Sonic considered rushing to meet him but thought that maybe it would be a waste of time and was proven right when Tails crossed the expanse in record time. Sonic let out an impressed whistle.

By the hard frown on the little fox's face, Sonic had a feeling that something might've given the extra push.

"Whattup, bud? Somethin' up?" Sonic leant his elbow casually against one of the palm trees keeping up his hammock. 

"So~nic, you're supposed to be helping me, not sleeping!" Tails placed his fists on his hips. "I've been cleaning up all the debris by myself!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Are you Amy now?" As if afraid he might summon her just by name, Sonic scanned the beach. "That's uncanny!"

Tails was evidently unamused, which meant the two had officially spent too much time together, and Sonic was going to have to bring that up...somehow.

"Okay, okay, it was just takin' too long. You know I get antsy."

"Antsy, huh?" Tail side-eyed the hammock.

"Who says you can't take it slow...fast?" 

"Uh-huh."

"Hey, I did tons of work! Who went out and cleaned up after ol' Egghead, huh? Who JUST wiped out that lame copyhog again?" Sonic thumbed at his chest, to which Tail heaved a sigh and let his features go slack. 

"Yeah, I know. Sorry. It's just—this is the first time I've been back to this workshop since the war. I really wanted to get it cleaned up so I could make some upgrades." Tails rubbed the back of his head and glanced behind him, which Sonic knew was the direction of Emerald Town. "When Eggman said he'd wrecked every last one of them, he really meant it, huh? Lucky he didn't do much to the other buildings around it."

"Yeah, lucky." Emerald Town had been a temporary headquarters for a while; to be honest, neither Sonic nor Tails had any idea that Eggman knew about the place beyond its beaches, least of all that Tails had a workshop there. Sonic personally hadn't wanted to come back, but Tails had insisted, and it wasn't like he had anything better to do but to wait for Eggman to show back up, licking at his wounds. 

"Nobody seemed upset," Tails said, as if the winds had been taken from his sails. 

Sonic was an easygoing guy. He let it go. "If you say so, bud. Well I'm done sleepin'—just point me in the right direction, and I'll whip up all of Eggman's garbage." 

"And take it where?" Tails shook his head. "To be honest, I think that's some of the problem. I wish Eggman would just take back all his scrap. I can't do anything with all that twisted up metal."

"You aren't gonna melt it?" Sonic had really thought Tails could do almost anything with anything. He'd seen the kid put together a miracle on less. But Tails shook his head. 

"No, it's not that type of alloy. Eggman was getting really cheap toward the end there. His early Badniks were at least impressive. All his recent stuff is just kinda thrown together." Tails went on with such a pedantic, condescending look in his eye, that Sonic couldn't help but think back to the little, bright-eyed fox he'd met on West Side Island and wondered if he could've imagined the transformation. Nah, probably not.

"Whoa there, rein it in champ. You want a head 'big as Wave?" Sonic leaned in, grinning, as Tails flinched and went red with embarrassment. He twisted around, clasping his hands together, as he tried to defend himself.

"I'm—I won't! I'm just saying what's," lowering his voice, "what's true."

Sonic laughed. "Before I get back to the grind, I'm gettin' myself a 'dog. See you at the Shack!" And with that, Sonic revved up and sped off across Emerald Beach, leaving Tails covered in sand and forced to rush after him. He wanted to be cranky, but really, he was craving a chili dog himself.

Tails was also a little relieved, under it all. Sonic had been a little...reserved lately. He was hardly communicative at the best of times, but he usually visited every once in a while. In the last few months, Tails hadn't seen him at all. KNUCKLES had seen him more. He was part of the clean-up unit, sure, but Tails was too! In his own way. Removing and reprogramming Eggman's badniks in the wake of the Eggman Empire's fall was a big job. He was tired, too. 

And Tails had been sure—well, he hadn't known what to be sure of, in those six months. 

But maybe it was gonna be all right. Maybe they would all go back to normal. Maybe Tails could take a break from work, just for a little bit, to follow Sonic around, no Tornado, no gadgets. Find an adventure somewhere, like the old days.

Tails was starting to feel a little useless again.

 

The Shack was a new place on Emerald Beach, set up years after the events that Tails and Sonic had been a part of there. It was exactly what its name described: a little beach shack with a thatched roof and bar seating inside, with lawn chairs and umbrella tables out its completely open front. It sold the sort of carb-heavy stuff you'd expect. Their chili dogs were up there on Sonic's favorites list. Tails liked their burgers, personally. It was a pretty happenin' place most of the time, but today, what with the waves as dangerous-looking as Tails had ever seen them, it was completely empty except for its proprietor.

Flippers the Seal was serving Sonic steaming chili dogs as Tails landed just outside. The bleached wooden floor was caked with sand, which made an unpleasant crunching sound when you walked around inside, but the rest of the cramped space was fairly spotless. It was just enough room for six bar stools and the counter, behind which was a mute TV, playing reruns of Omochao commentating on some event, and kitchen equipment, and on which was a single, handheld radio from which surf music lilted quietly. 

"You're the best, pal!" Sonic said with a wink, sliding a bill across the counter. Flippers, whom Tails had never seen so much as frown, took the payment lazily, placed it into a grease-stained piggy bank near his elbow, and began scrubbing some pots in the sink. 

"What took ya so long?" Sonic said as Tails entered. He opened his mouth and bit into half the dog, much to Tails' disgust. "I've b'n w't'n fer ages."

"Woah, slow down there," Tails said, though he felt himself salivating all the same. "You'll choke."

"Yhh syur," Sonic said, chewing and swallowing. "Like I'm gonna let myself go out LIKE THAT. Delicious though it may be." He looked lovingly on the chewed remaining half and Tails rolled his eyes.

"Shut up." Tails sidled up next to him and hopped up onto one of the stools. "Can I get one, too, sir?"

"Comin' right up, dude." Without even a glance, Flippers picked up the pot he'd been scrubbing and slammed it onto a burner. Tails flinched.

"Or maybe..."

"Aw, don't worry about it. He cleaned it, right?" Sonic winked, having already finished his first 'dog, and already moving onto the next.

Tails shook his head, glad that Flippers couldn't see his doubtful expression, what with the seal's back turned to him. 

"So, what's the plan, Tails? You make any progress on the 'shop while I was snoozin'?"

"Um, well, sorta... I moved some things around. I even found that thing I was building for Knuckles! You know, the emerald hunting device? I guess it got buried under all the debris. It's not needed now that I've built the Miles Electric, but it sure made me nostalgic." Absentmindedly, he fiddled with the dial on the old radio and turned the volume up a tad. The President of the United Federation was holding a press conference today. Tails could just catch his voice. Something about recovery budgets...

Tails sighed.

"He's just a lotta talk," Sonic said, quietly. When Tails turned his attention to him again, he saw that he was frowning down at his uneaten chili dog and running a gloved finger around the rim of the plate it was sitting on. 

"What? But...even...Shadow said he thought—"

"Yeah, well, that guy can think and say all he wants. Trust me, buddy. Shadow's probably got a sketchy back up plan in the works." Sonic shrugged. Tails's eyes widened. Sonic hadn't talked about the recovery efforts in more than a general sense since they'd defeated Infinite.

"Like what?" Tails heard (and smelled) the plate with his freshly cooked chili dog hit the counter, but he didn't pay it any mind.

"Who knows?" Sonic leaned back and clasped his hands behind his head. "Whatever it is, I'm stayin' out of it."

"But if Shadow knows how—how to help everyone, then shouldn't we join in? It's what we do, right?" Tails couldn't help the concern in his voice. Tails knew how much Sonic distrusted Shadow at times, but he always thought—no, he KNEW that Sonic considered Shadow his friend. And with the state of the planet like it was, having suffered so terribly from Eggman's most recent scheme, the Freedom Fighters needed all the help they could get.

This wasn't like Sonic...

Sonic stared at his plate for several, still seconds. Tails could feel the time tick by, and with each painful progression, his stomach grew colder and colder.

Finally, Sonic said, "I'm gettin' a little tired of helpin', to be honest."

Tails' finger slipped on the dial, forcing the volume to screech upward. The channel was overtaken with white noise—Tails flinched as it pierced his eardrums. 

"Woah, Tails, turn that sucker off!" Sonic flinched and covered his right ear. Flippers turned around, probably to do it for him, but then something crackled through the fitz and pops. 

"—nic—Sonic—"

Sonic and Tails' eyes widened simultaneously. 

"What did it say?" Sonic said, diving across the bar and onto the bar stool next to Tails. Tails opened his mouth to respond, when a great, white-gold explosion in his peripheral interrupted him. 

It sounded like a gunshot underwater. Tails covered his eyes. Sonic, however, looked up and directly into the light. The sky had gone awash with fire. He was overwhelmed with the feeling of Deja vu but ignored the queasy turn of his stomach and shot outside, onto the beach, where he had a less interrupted view of the phenomenon devouring the horizon. 

The first thought that flew through Sonic's head was "Eggman," but it didn't last. Something was different about this. He knew something bigger than his old nemesis when he saw it.

He swore he could see something in the middle of the explosion. He squinted hard, despite the searing pain it caused his retinas. Something—gold—?

Red eyes out of the heat. Sonic inhaled suddenly.

And then something was coming toward him, slicing through the air, shooting out of the explosion. Before Sonic could think to move, he was struck in the chest. Pain bloomed there, more intense than he'd ever felt, even worse than when he'd been used as the source to awaken Dark Gaia. He fell to one knee, gripped his chest. He could just hear Tails cry his name as the entire world went white.


End file.
